Malta moves on marriage

Hot on the heels of Germany the island nation has passed the law by a thumping 66 votes to 1. As with Germany, it’s a more inclusive law than we have for England and Wales: “husband and wife” becomes “spouses” and a single law covers any consenting couple who marry, rather than the parallel mixed-sex and same-sex marriage laws with subtle differences Westminster passed in 2013.

The sole parliamentarian to vote against cited his personal interpretation of the Christian faith as the reason for his opposition.

It is only three years since same-sex civil partnerships were legislated for in Malta, while Britain took ten years to get from civil partnerships to same-sex marriage.

Fifteen EU member states now have same-sex marriage recognised in law: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands,Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The UK is the only one where a part of the country (Northern Ireland) is exempted from such a law.